U.S. patent application number 11/495825 was filed with the patent office on 2008-01-31 for system and method for searching a bookmark and tag database for relevant bookmarks.
This patent application is currently assigned to Yahoo! Inc.. Invention is credited to Rocco Caputo, Joshua Schachter.
Application Number | 20080027914 11/495825 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 38987591 |
Filed Date | 2008-01-31 |
United States Patent
Application |
20080027914 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Caputo; Rocco ; et
al. |
January 31, 2008 |
System and method for searching a bookmark and tag database for
relevant bookmarks
Abstract
A method comprises receiving a search request to search a
bookmark package database storing bookmarks and tag information,
e.g., user-generated keywords; using the search request to search
the tag information in the bookmark package database to locate
relevant bookmarks and to generate search results; and presenting
the search results to a user. The search results may identify
user-specific relevant bookmarks, and/or relevant bookmarks
regardless of the creator. The method may include determining
related terms and enabling selection of the related terms to
initiate additional searching. The method may include generating a
relevance value based on keyword order, meta-information type,
number of bookmarks to a given content item, number of hits on a
given bookmark, time of last bookmarking to a given content item,
and/or content analysis. Search result organization may be based on
the relevance values. The bookmark package database may further
store automatically generated and user-generated
meta-information.
Inventors: |
Caputo; Rocco; (Davie,
FL) ; Schachter; Joshua; (Mountain View, CA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
DREIER LLP
499 PARK AVE
NEW YORK
NY
10022
US
|
Assignee: |
Yahoo! Inc.
|
Family ID: |
38987591 |
Appl. No.: |
11/495825 |
Filed: |
July 28, 2006 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 ;
707/999.003; 707/E17.114 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 16/9562 20190101;
G06F 16/951 20190101; H04L 65/1069 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
707/3 |
International
Class: |
G06F 17/30 20060101
G06F017/30 |
Claims
1. A method, comprising: receiving a search request to search a
bookmark package database, the bookmark package database storing
bookmarks and tag information; using the search request to search
the tag information in the bookmark package database to locate
relevant bookmarks and to generate search results; and presenting
the search results to a user.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the search request includes a set
of keywords.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the tag information includes
user-selected tags.
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying the
relevant bookmarks that the user previously saved.
5. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying the
relevant bookmarks regardless of the user that created them.
6. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a list of
related terms and enabling the user to select from the related
terms to initiate additional searching of the bookmark package
database.
7. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a relevance
value for each of the bookmarks.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the relevance value is based on
at least one of keyword order, type of meta-information, number of
bookmarks to a given content item, number of hits on a given
bookmark, time of the last post of a bookmark to a given content
item, and content analysis.
9. The method of claim 7, wherein the presenting of the search
results is based on the relevance values of the bookmarks.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein the bookmark package database
further stores automatically generated meta-information and
user-generated meta-information.
11. A system, comprising: a search manager for receiving a search
request to search a bookmark package database, the bookmark package
database storing bookmarks and tag information, and for presenting
search results to a user; and a search module coupled to the search
manager for using the search request to search the tag information
in the bookmark package database to locate relevant bookmarks and
to generate the search results.
12. The system of claim 11, wherein the search request includes a
set of keywords.
13. The system of claim 11, wherein the tag information includes
user-selected tags.
14. The system of claim 11, further comprising a user-focused
search module for identifying the relevant bookmarks that the user
previously saved.
15. The system of claim 11, further comprising an entire collection
search module for identifying the relevant bookmarks regardless of
the user that created them.
16. The system of claim 11, further comprising a related terms
search module for generating a list of related terms, wherein the
search manager is configured to enable the user to select from the
related terms to initiate additional searching of the bookmark
package database.
17. The system of claim 11, further comprising a relevance value
generator for generating a relevance value for each of the
bookmarks.
18. The system of claim 17, wherein the relevance value generator
is configured to generate the relevance value based on at least one
of keyword order, type of meta-information, number of bookmarks to
a given content item, number of hits on a given bookmark, time of
the last post of a bookmark to a given content item, and content
analysis.
19. The system of claim 17, wherein the search manager is
configured to present the search results based on the relevance
values of the bookmarks.
20. The system of claim 11, wherein the bookmark package database
further stores automatically generated meta-information and
user-generated meta-information.
21. A system, comprising: means for receiving a search request to
search a bookmark package database, the bookmark package database
storing bookmarks and tag information; means for using the search
request to search the tag information in the bookmark package
database to locate relevant bookmarks and to generate search
results; and means for presenting the search results to a user.
Description
COPYRIGHT AND TRADEMARK NOTICE
[0001] A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains
material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright
owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of
the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the
Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise
reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0002] This invention relates generally to web browsing, and more
particularly provides a system and method for searching a bookmark
and tag database for relevant bookmarks.
BACKGROUND
[0003] A number of techniques are known to those of skill in the
art for saving references to content items. One example is a
bookmark (favorite) available by most popular web browsers. A user
utilizes a web browser to view content items available over a
network, e.g., the Internet. When the user navigates to a content
item of possible future interest, the user saves a bookmark to the
content item in the web browser. For example, where a given content
item is identified by an address, e.g., a URL, the web browser
saves a local reference to the content item by maintaining the URL
of the content item and a label to identify the content item. When
the user wishes to subsequently view the content item, the user may
select the locally saved bookmark, causing the web browser to
navigate to the address associated with the bookmark to access the
content item.
[0004] Stored bookmarks are generally available only locally to the
user that originally saved the bookmark. What are needed are
mechanisms for storing bookmarks for local and/or public use and
mechanisms for enabling easy retrieval of those stored
bookmarks.
SUMMARY
[0005] In accordance with one embodiment, the present invention
provides a method, comprising receiving a search request to search
a bookmark package database, the bookmark package database storing
bookmarks and tag information; using the search request to search
the tag information in the bookmark package database to locate
relevant bookmarks and to generate search results; and presenting
the search results to a user. The search request may include a set
of keywords. The tag information may include user-selected tags.
The method may further include identifying the relevant bookmarks
that the user previously saved. The method may further include
identifying the relevant bookmarks regardless of the user that
created them. The method may further include generating a list of
related terms and enabling the user to select from the related
terms to initiate additional searching of the bookmark package
database. The method may further include generating a relevance
value for each of the bookmarks. The relevance value may be based
on at least one of keyword order, type of meta-information, number
of bookmarks to a given content item, number of hits on a given
bookmark, time of the last post of a bookmark to a given content
item, and content analysis. The order of the search results may be
based on the relevance values of the bookmarks. The bookmark
package database may further store automatically generated
meta-information and user-generated meta-information.
[0006] According to another embodiment, the present invention
provides a system, comprising a search manager for receiving a
search request to search a bookmark package database, the bookmark
package database storing bookmarks and tag information, and for
presenting search results to a user; and a search module coupled to
the search manager for using the search request to search the tag
information in the bookmark package database to locate relevant
bookmarks and to generate the search results. The search request
may include a set of keywords. The tag information may include
user-selected tags. The system may further include a user-focused
search module for identifying the relevant bookmarks that the user
previously saved. The system may further include an entire
collection search module for identifying the relevant bookmarks
regardless of the user that created them. The system may further
include a related terms search module for generating a list of
related terms, wherein the search manager is configured to enable
the user to select from the related terms to initiate additional
searching of the bookmark package database. The system may further
include a relevance value generator for generating a relevance
value for each of the bookmarks. The relevance value generator may
be configured to generate the relevance value based on at least one
of keyword order, type of meta-information, number of bookmarks to
a given content item, number of hits on a given bookmark, time of
the last post of a bookmark to a given content item, and content
analysis. The search manager may be configured to present the
search results based on the relevance values of the bookmarks. The
bookmark package database may further store automatically generated
meta-information and user-generated meta-information.
[0007] In yet another embodiment, the present invention provides a
system, comprising means for receiving a search request to search a
bookmark package database, the bookmark package database storing
bookmarks and tag information; means for using the search request
to search the tag information in the bookmark package database to
locate relevant bookmarks and to generate search results; and means
for presenting the search results to a user.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0008] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a network system implementing
bookmark packaging and searching, in accordance with an embodiment
of the present invention.
[0009] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating details of a bookmark
packaging engine of FIG. 1.
[0010] FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the data structure of
a bookmark package, in accordance with an embodiment of the present
invention.
[0011] FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating details of a bookmark
search engine of FIG. 1.
[0012] FIG. 5 illustrates an example bookmark packaging form for
obtaining a bookmark and meta-information on a bookmark, in
accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
[0013] FIG. 6 illustrates an example user interface for displaying
the results of a search of a bookmark package database, in
accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
[0014] FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating details of an example
computer system.
[0015] FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method of packaging and
indexing a bookmark, in accordance with an embodiment of the
present invention.
[0016] FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a method of searching a
bookmark package database, in accordance with an embodiment of the
present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0017] The following description is provided to enable any person
skilled in the art to make and use the invention, and is provided
in the context of a particular application and its requirements.
Various modifications to the embodiments are possible to those
skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may
be applied to these and other embodiments and applications without
departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Thus, the
present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments
shown, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the
principles, features and teachings disclosed herein.
[0018] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a network system 100
implementing bookmark packaging, storing and searching, in
accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Network
system 100 includes client devices 105 coupled via a network 110,
e.g., the Internet, to content servers 115. A bookmark packaging
engine 120 is coupled to the network 110 to enable users of the
client devices 105 to package and store bookmarks to content items
deemed interesting to the user in a bookmark package database 125,
which is coupled to the bookmark packaging engine 120. A bookmark
search engine 130 is also coupled to the network 110 to enable
users of the client devices 105 to search the bookmark package
database 125, which is also coupled to the bookmark search engine
130. The bookmark packaging engine 120, the bookmark package
database 125, and the bookmark search engine 130 may be operated by
a single entity or different entities, on a single server or on
multiple servers, etc.
[0019] A client device 105 communicates with content servers 115 to
view content items. Example content items include web pages, text
documents, images, audio files, video files, multimedia files, or
any other form of digital content accessible over a network. A
client device 105 may be a laptop computer, desktop computer, PDA,
mobile phone, etc. A client device 105 may run software
applications including a web browser that allows for communication
with content servers 115 and presentation of the content items
provided by the content servers 115 to the user of the client
device 105. In one embodiment, the browser 135 is modified to
include bookmark-posting functionality. Bookmark-posting
functionality may be provided to the browser 135 via a post
bookmark plugin 140 (as shown) or via other techniques known to
those skilled in the art. The post bookmark plugin 140 may be
provided to enable the user to add bookmarks and meta-information
to the bookmark database 125 while browsing a web page and without
first navigating to a website managed by the bookmark packaging
engine 120. In another embodiment, the browser 135 does not include
bookmark-posting functionality. In such case, the user may navigate
to the website managed by the bookmark packaging engine 120 to
enter the bookmark and meta-information.
[0020] The bookmark packaging engine 120 includes hardware,
software and/or firmware to enable packaging of bookmarks and
forwarding of bookmark packages to the bookmark package database
125. The bookmark packaging engine 120 provides an interface
(application and/or user) to receive a bookmark request, to obtain
meta-information (e.g., tags) on the bookmark, to automatically
generate other meta-information on the bookmark, to combine the
bookmark and meta-information to generate a "bookmark package", and
to forward the bookmark package to the bookmark package database
125 for indexing and storage. An example bookmark package 300 is
shown in and described with reference to FIG. 3. An example
bookmark packaging form 500 for receiving a bookmark and
meta-information, including tags, on a bookmark is shown in and
described with reference to FIG. 5.
[0021] It will be appreciated that the bookmark packaging engine
120 may refuse to package and/or forward content items or URLs
known to be bad (e.g., malicious, system damaging, irrelevant to
the system's scope of operation, etc.), to package and/or forward
any content items from users known to be bad (e.g., known to post
bad content items, known to have a record of malicious behavior,
etc.), to package and/or forward any content items without any
meta-information (or specific meta-information, e.g., tags) added
to it, and/or the like.
[0022] The bookmark package database 125 stores the bookmark
packages (bookmarks and meta-information such as description, user
notes, tags, etc.) possibly in relational database or other
database format. In one embodiment, the bookmark package database
125 generates index information to enable fast and easy retrieval
of bookmark packages in response to user search requests. In one
embodiment, the bookmark package database 125 generates a "tag
space" for each bookmark package. A tag space for a given content
items includes all tags associated with that given content item.
That is, the tag space for a given content item includes all tags
associated with all bookmarks in the bookmark package database 125
that are associated with the given content item. For example, one
or more registered users may create multiple bookmark packages for
a given content item. Although the bookmarks are associated with
the same content item, each may include different tag information.
The tag space for the given content item includes the collection of
all tags associated with all bookmark packages in the set.
Accordingly, the tag space for each bookmark package associated
with the same content will have the same tag space. Conversely, in
one embodiment, the bookmark package database 125 may include a
"bookmark space" for a given tag. That is, a bookmark space
includes the set of bookmarks associated with a given tag. The
bookmark package database 125 may generate other index information,
e.g., description space, user notes space, groupings,
categorizations, etc., to enable fast searching and more helpful
search results.
[0023] It will be appreciated that the bookmark package database
125 may refuse to index and/or store content items or URLs known to
be bad (e.g., malicious, system damaging, irrelevant to the
system's scope of operation, etc.), to index and/or store any
content items from users known to be bad (e.g., known to post bad
content items, known to have a record of malicious behavior, etc.),
to index and/or store any content items without any
meta-information (or specific meta-information, e.g., tags) added
to it, and/or the like.
[0024] The bookmark search engine 130 includes hardware, software
and/or firmware to enable searching of the bookmark packages stored
in the bookmark package database 125. The bookmark search engine
130 provides an interface to receive bookmark search requests from
users, to conduct searches of the bookmark packages (bookmarks and
meta-information) in the bookmark database 125, to generate search
results, and to provide the search results to the user, possibly
via the browser 135 on the client device 105. An example user
interface for displaying search results is shown in and described
with reference to FIG. 6.
[0025] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating details of the
bookmark packaging engine 120. The bookmark packaging engine 120
includes a post manager 205, a URL ID generator 210, a user ID
generator 215, a post ID generator 220, a description interface
225, a user notes UI 230, a tag UI 235, an automatic
meta-information generator 240, and a keyword cleanup engine
245.
[0026] The post manager 205 may include hardware, software and/or
firmware for enabling a user to request a reference to a content
item to be saved in the bookmark package database 125, for
communicating with the user and the other components (elements
210-245) of the bookmark packaging engine 120 to obtain bookmark
and meta-information, for packaging the bookmark and
meta-information, and for transmitting the bookmark packages to the
bookmark package database 125. The post manager 205 may include web
server functionality to enable the presentation of a user
interface, e.g., the bookmark packaging form 500 shown in FIG. 5,
as a website to the user. The post manager 205 may include an
application program interface (API) to enable communication with
the post bookmark plugin 140 or other plugins or applications. The
API may be available to third parties, their applications, and
their plugins. For example, the user may navigate to the patent
office website, e.g., http://www.uspto.gov/. The user may feel that
others may benefit from learning about the existence of the patent
office website, and thus may wish to bookmark the patent office
website in a publicly available location. In one embodiment, upon
deciding to bookmark the patent office website, the user may
navigate to the website managed by the post manager 205 and may
complete the bookmark packaging form 500 as shown in FIG. 5. In
another embodiment, while still at the patent office website, the
user may click on a button presented by the post bookmark plugin
140. In response, the post bookmark plugin 140 automatically
gathers the bookmark information of the site the user is currently
reviewing (e.g., the URL of the patent office
website--"http://www.uspto.gov/") and possibly meta-information
about the website (e.g., the title of the patent office
website--"United States Patent and Trademark Office Home Page"),
automatically navigates to the bookmark packaging form 500 as shown
in FIG. 5, and automatically fills in the relevant fields with the
gathered URL and meta-information. It will be appreciated that the
post manager 205 may refuse to post content items or URLs known to
be bad.
[0027] The URL ID generator 210 includes hardware, software and/or
firmware for automatically generating a URL ID based on the URL of
interest, and possibly based on other information such as the
title. The URL ID generator 210 may use conventional hashing
functions to generate the URL ID.
[0028] The user ID generator 215 includes hardware, software and/or
firmware for automatically generating a user ID based on the user.
The user ID generator 215 may generate the user ID during the
registration process. Thus, when a user returns to the bookmarking
website, the user ID generator 215 may gather the user ID during
the login process. Each user preferably has a unique ID.
[0029] The post ID generator 220 includes hardware, software and/or
firmware for automatically generating a post ID. In one embodiment,
the post ID generator 220 numbers the posts in sequential order.
Each post will get a unique post ID.
[0030] The description interface 225 includes hardware, software
and/or firmware for enabling meta-information to be added to a
description field of the bookmark packaging form 500. In one
embodiment, the description interface 225 automatically enters
description information into the description field of the bookmark
packaging form 500 as a default, and enables the user to edit the
default description information. When operating with the plugin
140, the description interface 225 may receive the description
information, e.g., title, from the plugin 140. When not operating
with the plugin 140, the description interface 225 may
automatically retrieve the description information from the website
being bookmarked, enter the retrieved description information into
the description field of the bookmark packaging form 500 as a
default, and enable the user to edit the information.
Alternatively, the description interface 225 starts from a blank
field.
[0031] The user notes user interface 230 includes hardware,
software and/or firmware for enabling the user to enter
meta-information to a user notes field of the bookmark packaging
form. Whether or not operating with the plugin 140, the user notes
user interface 230 in one embodiment may start from a blank field.
That is, in one embodiment, the user notes user interface 230 may
not automatically enter any default notes.
[0032] The tag user interface 235 includes hardware, software
and/or firmware for enabling the user to enter tags into a tag
field of the bookmark packaging form 500. Whether or not operating
with the plugin 140, the tag user interface 230 in one embodiment
may start from a blank field. That is, in one embodiment, the tag
user interface 230 may not automatically enter any default tags. In
another embodiment, the tag user interface 230 may generate a
default set of tags, possibly by analyzing the content item, by
extracting words from the description and/or user notes, by
extracting terms from related bookmarks, etc. The tags may include
user-selected keywords or other descriptors and/or system-selected
keywords or other descriptors. The tags may be based on specific
attributes of the content item such as a file type. The tags may
comprise individual keywords and/or groupings of tags.
[0033] The automatic meta-information generator 240 includes
hardware, software and/or firmware for automatically gathering
meta-information about the content item. For example, the automatic
meta-information generator 240 may extract meta-information from
the URL, from the user, from the host of the content item, from the
content of the content item (e.g., using indexing/categorization
techniques implemented by conventional web crawling systems), from
the file type of the content item, etc.
[0034] The keyword cleanup engine 245 includes hardware, software
and/or firmware for automatically managing terms of the
description, the terms of the user notes, the tags, the
automatically generated meta-information, etc. The keyword cleanup
engine 245 may collapse versions of words into a single term (e.g.,
"search", "searches", "searching", and "searchable" into the single
term of "search"), may modify punctuation (e.g., change punctuation
in the middle of words into an ampersand such as "people's" into
"people&s"), may remove punctuation at the beginning and end of
words, may add other words (e.g., synonyms, alternate spellings,
etc.), etc.
[0035] It will be appreciated that the keyword cleanup engine 245
may handle indexing mechanisms in a manner specific to the
database. For example, keywords may be divided by purpose into
regions (e.g., notes, description, tags, etc.) and separated by a
keyword that is not normally searchable (e.g., "_SEP_"). The region
separator prevents phrase searches from matching across two or more
keyword regions. The search manager's keyword cleanup engine 410
(discussed below with reference to FIG. 4) performs steps to ensure
that users may not search for the separator keyword, for example,
by removing leading and/or trailing punctuation from the
user-entered search terms.
[0036] In one embodiment of the present invention, several types of
internal meta-information are encoded as keywords that may be used
to enhance or limit search results but may not be specified
directly by the user. [0037] URL ID (e.g., "_url_id=218527"). This
is the unique ID of the URL being indexed. There is one URL ID per
index record. [0038] URL IDs in other forms (e.g.,
"url_md5=7b6cdc20ad985d4ddc547cd18a9e3998"), which are used by
other parts of the system to uniquely identify index records by
URL. There may be multiple forms of URL ID, each referring to the
same URL. [0039] Host ID (e.g., "_host=poe&perl&org" and
"_host=perl&org"). These identify the host part of the URL at
various levels of specificity in order to limit search results to
specific hosts or domains. [0040] POST ID (e.g.,
"_post_id=553034"). This is the unique ID of the post associated
with a URL's index record. Each URL index record contains one or
more post IDs. Index records that would have zero post IDs are
removed. [0041] User ID (e.g., "_user_id=6564"). This is the unique
ID of the user who has bookmarked the associated URL. There is one
user ID per post ID. [0042] Tag ID (e.g., "_tag=perl"). Each tag is
indexed as a plaintext word and as an internal "tag"
meta-information keyword. This allows users to search only the tags
without finding incidental words in descriptions, extended text, or
elsewhere.
[0043] In one embodiment of the present invention, the searchable
part of a URL index record (i.e., the "key") may look like
this:
_tag=framework_tag=network_tag=perl_tag=poe_tag=programming
framework network perl poe programming_SEP.sub.--_url_id=218527
_url_=md5=7b6cdc20ad985d4ddc547cd18a9e3998_post_id=483157_user_id=6564
_post_id=553034_user_id=6116_SEP.sub.--_host=poe&perl&org_host=perl&org_S-
EP_very intriguing event&based perl framework wish i&d had
this in 99_SEP_veri intrigue event&bas perl framework wish
i&d had this in 99_SEP_multithreading for perl_SEP_multithread
for perl
[0044] Index records may also contain payloads, which are
structured data associated with the index record keywords but which
are separate from and not indexed with the keywords. Payloads may
contain information necessary to produce results in a user
interface. However, they may change over time. In one embodiment of
the present invention, index record payloads include the following
information: [0045] The most popular description for the URL, or a
message indicating that nobody has described the URL. [0046] The
most popular notes for the URL, or a message indicating that nobody
has annotated the URL. [0047] The five most popular tags associated
with the URL. Tags are counted across all users who bookmarked the
URL, and the five most used ones are chosen. A tag must be used by
at least two users to be considered popular. Tags are stored in
descending order of popularity. [0048] The number of posts for a
given URL. [0049] A map of user IDs to post IDs, so that a
particular user's post may be found among all the posts
contributing to the URL's keywords. [0050] The URL's ID. The URL's
hash ID is included to avoid recalculating it when search results
are presented to the user.
[0051] FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a bookmark package
300 generated by the bookmark packaging engine 120, in accordance
with an embodiment of the present invention. The bookmark package
300 includes URL 305, a URL ID 310, a user ID 315 of the user
requesting that the bookmark be entered into the database, a post
ID 320, description keywords 325, notes keywords 330, tags 335,
automatically generated keywords 340, and other possible
meta-information 345. It will be appreciated that the bookmark
package database 125 will store multiple bookmark packages 300 and
other information such as index information.
[0052] FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating details of the
bookmark search engine 130. The bookmark search engine 130 includes
a search manager 405, a keyword cleanup engine 410, a user-focused
search module 415, an entire-collection search module 420, a
related terms library 425, a related terms search module 430 and a
relevance value generator 435. Each of the components of the
bookmark search engine 130 may be capable of communicating with
various other components of the system 100, e.g., the client
devices 105, the bookmark packaging engine 120, the bookmark
package database 125, etc. It will be appreciated that all or a
portion of the components of the bookmark search engine 130 may be
maintained on the bookmark package database 125.
[0053] The search manager 405 includes hardware, software and/or
firmware for receiving search requests from users, for
communicating with the other search engine components (elements
410-435) to gather search result information, for sorting the
search result information based on relevance, and for generating
search results for presentation to the requesting users. The search
manager 405 may enable the user to use Boolean operators,
parentheses, quotation marks, and/or other search mechanisms. The
search manager 405 may remove stopwords, e.g., words like "a",
"an", "the," etc. In one embodiment, the relative positions of
keywords are preserved in the user's query, so that phrases can be
found within the index database without regard to the gaps where
stopwords lie. For example, a search for "one two and three" may
find "one two and three", "one two four three", "one two knickers
three", etc. In other words, whatever word appears in the
stopword's gap in the index is ignored, as long as "three" is in
the fourth position of the phrase.
[0054] The keyword cleanup engine 410 includes hardware, software
and/or firmware for managing the keywords of the description, the
keywords of the user notes, the tags, the meta-information
determined automatically, etc., and preferably operates identically
to the keyword cleanup engine 245. That is, the keyword cleanup
engine 410 may collapse versions of words into a single term (e.g.,
"search", "searches", "searching", and "searchable" into the single
term of "search"), may modify punctuation (e.g., change punctuation
in the middle of words into an ampersand such as "people's" into
"people&s"), may remove punctuation at the beginning and end of
words, may add other words (e.g., synonyms, alternate spellings,
etc.), may translate user-friendly query terms into internal
metadata terms, such as "tag:poe" into "_tag=poe", etc.
[0055] The user-focused search module 415 includes hardware,
software and/or firmware for conducting user-specific searches of
the bookmark package database 125. That is, when a user conducts a
search, e.g., a keyword search, a topic search, or the like, the
user-focused search module 415 will identify only the bookmark
packages that the user created. In one embodiment, the user-focused
search module 415 will conduct the search against only the bookmark
packages 300 that have the same user ID as the requesting user. In
one embodiment, the user-focused search module 415 sends search
requests to the bookmark package database 125, which conducts the
actual search, possibly using an inverted index or other indexing
technology, such as Xapian software.
[0056] The entire collection search module 420 includes hardware,
software and/or firmware for conducting searches of the entire
bookmark package database 125. That is, when a user conducts a
search, e.g., a keyword search, a topic search, or the like, the
entire collection search module 420 searches the bookmarks of the
entire collection, regardless of the user that created each
bookmark package 300. In one embodiment, the entire collection
search module 420 sends search requests to the bookmark package
database 125, which conducts the actual search, possibly using an
inverted index or other indexing technology, such as Xapian
software.
[0057] The related terms library 425 includes hardware, software
and/or firmware for storing related terms. That is, the related
terms library 425 may store synonyms, alternate spellings,
different tenses, groupings of words that relate to particular
topics (e.g., patent, patents, USPTO, intellectual property, etc.),
etc. The related terms library 425 may store groupings of terms
that relate to a given content item, such as the set of all tags
corresponding to a given content item. In one embodiment, the
related terms library 425 is stored on the bookmark package
database 125.
[0058] The related terms search module 430 includes hardware,
software and/or firmware for searching the related terms search
library 425 for terms that relate to the keywords of a user search
request. In one embodiment, the related terms search module 430
provides the related terms to the search manager 405, which in turn
communicates with the user-focused search module 415 and the entire
collection search module 420 to conduct additional searches of the
bookmark package database 125 using the related terms. In one
embodiment, the related terms search module 430 provides the
related terms to the search manager 405, which provides them as a
list to the user (should the user wish to conduct another search of
the bookmark package database 125, e.g., by clicking on one or more
of the related terms). In one embodiment, the related terms search
module 430 sends search requests to the bookmark package database
125, which conducts the actual search, possibly using an inverted
index or other indexing technology, such as Xapian software.
[0059] The relevance value generator 435 includes hardware,
software and/or firmware for generating a relevance value of the
bookmarks identified by the various search modules (e.g., search
modules 415 and/or 420) and/or in cooperation with the various
search modules (e.g., search modules 415 and/or 420) to assist with
their determination of relevance. The relevance value generator 435
may determine relevance value based on features such as the number
of bookmarks to a given content item, the number of hits on a given
bookmark, the order of keywords in the search request, the date and
time of the last post to the content item, the date and time of the
last hit on a given bookmark, content analysis, etc. The relevance
value generator 435 may generate a different relevance value to a
keyword match based on whether the keyword match is found in the
tag field versus the description field versus the user notes field.
For example, the relevance value generator 435 may value a match
with a tag greater than a match with a term in the description.
Further, the relevance value generator 435 may value a match with a
term in the description greater than a match with a term in the
user notes. Other relevance value generation techniques or
combination of techniques may be used.
[0060] It will be appreciated that the search manager 405 may
handle search mechanisms in a manner specific to the database being
used. In one embodiment, certain words and characters are treated
as special by the indexing software, which provides a mechanism for
keyword prefixes that can map to metadata. Some prefixes may not be
exposed to the user. Rather, they are used internally to augment or
limit the user's search. Unknown prefixes may be preserved by
mapping them to themselves. This allows unknown prefixes to be
treated as literal search text. In one embodiment, prefixes such as
"media:" and "filetype:" are preserved this way despite the
software's tendency to parse them specially. The preprocessed query
and its custom prefixes are passed to the keyword cleanup engine
410 and the rest of the bookmark search engine 130 for subsequent
processing.
[0061] FIG. 5 illustrates an example bookmark packaging form 500
for gathering a bookmark and meta-information on a bookmark, in
accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The
bookmark packaging form 500 displays a username 505 (from which the
user ID may be generated), a URL field 510 (including the page
being bookmarked by default, the USTPO website in this instance), a
description field 515 (including the title of the page being
bookmarked by default, the USPTO website title in this instance), a
user notes field 520, and a tags field 525. The bookmark packaging
form 500 presents a set of "recommended tags" that list terms used
by others who have previously bookmarked this particular URL. It
also may include other sets of tags (e.g., "your tags", the set of
tags you have used to bookmark previous URLs).
[0062] FIG. 6 illustrates an example user interface 600 for
displaying the results of a search of the bookmark package database
125, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
User interface 600 provides search results for user 605 ("msockol")
in response to a keyword search ("uspto") as shown in the keyword
search field 610. The search results include a list of items
bookmarked by the user 605 and relevant to the keyword search 610,
shown as "Your items" 615. In this illustration, no results were
found. The search results also include a list of bookmarks saved by
the entire collection of users and relevant to the keyword search,
shown in "Everyone's items" 620. "Everyone's items" 620 include 429
related content items in an order corresponding to a relevance
value generated by a relevance value generator 435. The search
results also include a list of common tags 625 related to the
keyword search 610. The list of common tags 625 includes a list of
terms generated from the tags corresponding to the list of
bookmarks. The list of terms may include only terms having been
entered by more than a certain number of people, e.g., more than 5
people, or may include only the terms for the top 10 bookmarks in
the list. The list may be ordered based on popularity of the terms.
The search results may include other information, such as related
terms, bookmark lists generated based on related terms, etc.
[0063] FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating details of an example
computer system 700, of which each client device 105, each content
server 115, the bookmark packaging engine 120, the bookmark search
engine 130 and the bookmark package database 125 may be an
instance. Computer system 700 includes a processor 705, such as an
Intel Pentium.RTM. microprocessor or a Motorola Power PC.RTM.
microprocessor, coupled to a communications channel 720. The
computer system 700 further includes an input device 710 such as a
keyboard or mouse, an output device 715 such as a cathode ray tube
display, a communications device 725, a data storage device 730
such as a magnetic disk, and memory 735 such as Random-Access
Memory (RAM), each coupled to the communications channel 720. The
communications interface 725 may be coupled to a network such as
the wide-area network commonly referred to as the Internet. One
skilled in the art will recognize that, although the data storage
device 730 and memory 735 are illustrated as different units, the
data storage device 730 and memory 735 can be parts of the same
unit, distributed units, virtual memory, etc.
[0064] The data storage device 730 and/or memory 735 may store an
operating system 740 such as the Microsoft Windows XP, Linux, the
IBM OS/2 operating system, the MAC OS, or UNIX operating system
and/or other programs 745. It will be appreciated that a preferred
embodiment may also be implemented on platforms and operating
systems other than those mentioned. An embodiment may be written
using Perl, C, and/or C++ language, or other programming languages,
possibly using object oriented or other programming
methodologies.
[0065] One skilled in the art will recognize that the computer
system 700 may also include additional information, such as network
connections, additional memory, additional processors, LANs,
input/output lines for transferring information across a hardware
channel, the Internet or an intranet, etc. One skilled in the art
will also recognize that the programs and data may be received by
and stored in the system in alternative ways. For example, a
computer-readable storage medium (CRSM) reader 750 such as a
magnetic disk drive, hard disk drive, magneto-optical reader, CPU,
etc. may be coupled to the communications bus 720 for reading a
computer-readable storage medium (CRSM) 755 such as a magnetic
disk, a hard disk, a magneto-optical disk, RAM, etc. Accordingly,
the computer system 700 may receive programs and/or data via the
CRSM reader 750. Further, it will be appreciated that the term
"memory" herein is intended to cover all data storage media whether
permanent or temporary.
[0066] FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method 800 of indexing
a bookmark, in accordance with an embodiment of the present
invention. Method 800 begins in step 805 with the post manager 205
receiving a bookmark request for a given content item. In step 810,
the post manager 205 obtains automatically generated
meta-information from automatic generators. For example, the post
manager 205 may obtain a URL ID from the URL ID generator 210, a
user ID from the user ID generator 215, a post ID from the post ID
generator 220, and other meta-information (e.g., keywords in the
content item, host information, URL information, etc.) from another
automatic meta-information generator 240. The post manager 205 may
obtain description information from the description interface 225.
As stated above, all or a portion of the description information
may be generated automatically. In step 815, the post manager 205
obtains tag information from the tag user interface 235. In step
820, the post manager 205 obtains other meta-information from the
user, e.g., from the user notes user interface 230, from the
description interface 225, etc.
[0067] In step 825, the post manager 205 generates a bookmark
package 300. In one embodiment, the post manager 205 operates with
the keyword cleanup engine 245 to modify the meta-information,
e.g., the terms of the tags, the terms of the description, the
terms of the user notes, etc. Such modifications may include
modifying punctuation, collapsing words, etc. In step 830, the post
manager 205 forwards the bookmark package to the bookmark package
database 125. The bookmark package database 125 in step 835
generates index information, e.g., generates tag spaces, bookmark
spaces, term spaces, etc., and in step 840 stores the bookmark
package (and any index information). Method 800 then ends.
[0068] FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a method 900 of searching
the bookmark package database 125, in accordance with an embodiment
of the present invention. Method 900 begins in step 905 with the
search manager 405 receiving a user search request and possibly
using the keyword cleanup engine 410 to modify the keywords of the
search request (possibly in an identical process as implemented
during the packaging process by the keyword cleanup engine 245). In
step 910, the search manager 405 cooperates with the user-focused
search module 415 to conduct a search for bookmarks related to the
search request and posted by the particular user. In step 915, the
search manager 405 cooperates with the entire collection search
module 420 to conduct a search for the bookmarks related to the
search request, regardless of the user that posted the bookmark. In
step 920, the search manager 405, possibly in cooperation with the
related terms library 425 and/or the related terms search module
430, conducts a search for related search terms. The related search
terms may be related based on known relatedness (such as synonyms,
antonyms, alternative spellings, same root, etc.) and/or based on
tag relatedness (e.g., other users have marked the same content
item with other tag terms). Known relatedness and tag relatedness
may overlap in all or in part. In step 925, the search manager 405,
possibly in cooperation with the user-focused search module 415
and/or the entire collection search module 420, conducts any
additional searches based on the related terms. In step 930, the
search manager 405 generates a relevance value for each bookmark of
the search results. In one embodiment, step 930 occurs in
cooperation with step 910 and/or step 915. In step 935, the search
manager 405 presents the search results to the user, possibly in
the order based on the relevance values of the bookmark packages.
Method 900 then ends.
[0069] The foregoing description of the preferred embodiments of
the present invention is by way of example only, and other
variations and modifications of the above-described embodiments and
methods are possible in light of the foregoing teaching. Although
the network sites are being described as separate and distinct
sites, one skilled in the art will recognize that these sites may
be a part of an integral site, may each include portions of
multiple sites, or may include combinations of single and multiple
sites. The various embodiments set forth herein may be implemented
utilizing hardware, software, or any desired combination thereof.
For that matter, any type of logic may be utilized which is capable
of implementing the various functionality set forth herein.
Components may be implemented using a programmed general purpose
digital computer, using application specific integrated circuits,
or using a network of interconnected conventional components and
circuits. Connections may be wired, wireless, modem, etc. The
embodiments described herein are not intended to be exhaustive or
limiting. The present invention is limited only by the following
claims.
* * * * *
References